Camelford poisoning: 'water authority insisted supplies were safe'

Inquest hears how water authority said there was no health risk after aluminium sulphate was dumped in wrong tank

Douglas Cross, whose wife, Carole Cross, 59, died in 2004. Her death has been linked to the 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate which were dumped into the wrong tank at a water treatment works in Camelford in 1988. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

A water authority instructed its communications centre to tell people their tap water was safe even as one customer reported that his hair was sticking together and others said the milk in their tea was curdling, an inquest heard today.

Worried householders called for help and advice after a lorry driver accidentally dumped 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at a water treatment plant in north Cornwall, sparking Britain's worst mass poisoning.

One man's hair had stuck together after taking a bath as if it had a powerful glue in it, while others reported that water in and around the town of Camelford was black or had curdled the milk in their tea, the hearing was told.

But Susan Jones, who was on duty in South West Water Authority's (SWWA) communications centre, said she was told the water was safe and felt her bosses were not listening to her worries.

Jones was speaking on the first day of an inquest into the death of Carole Cross, a former Camelford resident who died aged 59 in 2004 – 16 years after the poisoning. In 2005, the West Somerset Coroner Michael Rose said Cross had a neurological disease "usually associated with Alzheimer's", but added that "an abnormally high level of aluminium" in her brain could have caused the disease. The inquest has been delayed while medical research was completed.

Jones said: "I realised something was seriously wrong when I got a call from a woman whose husband had got out of the bath and his hair was sticking together like Super Glue and I knew it was extremely serious.

"Calls were still coming in and heightening in numbers. They were coming in at a fantastic rate, too fast to log them all. Water was sticking to people, curdling milk in tea and appearing absolutely black.

"I tried to convey this to other people at SWWA but I felt I was banging my head against a brick wall. Nobody seemed to be listening. I asked how I should answer people who wanted to know if it was safe and I was told it was safe to drink. I was told there was no health risk."

After the incident in 1988, those who drank or bathed in the contaminated water reported many health problems, including stomach cramps, skin rashes, diarrhoea, mouth ulcers and aching joints.

Some campaigners insist that people have suffered long-term health effects because of the poisoning – and they say there was a cover-up because the water authority was about to be privatised.

The driver who dumped the aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at the Lowermoor plant, which supplied a large area of north Cornwall including Camelford, told the inquest how he had stepped in at the last minute to take over the delivery.

John Stephens said he was told to put his load "in a tank on the left", but he was confused because there were several tanks and manhole covers.

He said he had asked his colleagues to telephone the authority to say he would be running late but when he arrived at Lowermoor no one was there. He said there was no phone available to ring anyone.

Later when he returned to help explain what had happened, he said he was told by an engineer not to talk about it. "Just as we were leaving, he told me he didn't want this to go any further about the aluminium being put in the wrong tank. He said they would sort it out," said Stephens.

Another worker, Raymond Truscott said in a statement he had been advised to make no comment to the original police interview by his employers.

A barrister acting for the water authority argued that the inquest should not hear evidence about Lowermoor.

Wendy Outhwaite, QC, argued the medical evidence did not show a link between the incident and Cross's death. She said: "To hear a week of evidence before we hear from the doctors is a cavalier, casual and scandalous waste of public money."

Away from the inquest, residents of the area said they hoped it would help establish exactly what happened. One local, Nigel Jones, said many victims had "gone to their graves without any closure", adding: "I hope the truth will come out."

Jones said the incident still divided the local community: campaigners were branded by some as "hypochondriac claim-chasers".

He said this week's inquest would revive bad memories for many who had been left to wonder if their health problems, or those of family members, had been caused by the poisoned water.

Peter Smith, chairman of the Lowermoor Support Group, said: "This is the first time that the community will hear from people, on oath, who were intimately involved at all levels of the incident. It is disappointing it has taken so long."

The inquest at Shire Hall in Taunton, Somerset, continues.

• This article was amended on 2 November 2010. The original caption referred to George Cross. This has been corrected. We also said the barrister was acting for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This has been corrected – he acted for the water authority.